Riding Out the Storm
by Caroline Michelle
Summary: Duo discovers the two things Heero is afraid of. Ficlet request for elwonhamster.


A week from today until certain doom. Birthday project-thingy ficlet request #2.

Title: Riding Out the Storm  
Author: Caroline  
Pairing: 1+2+1  
Rating: R  
Warnings: Angst, lime-ish  
Notes: For LJ user elwonhamster. Her ficlet request was, "I would like to request a Heero x Duo please, set during a thuderstorm with a powercut. Smutty if possible." I'm sorry that it's not really smutty. They turned all angsty on me. :(

* * *

There were only two things Heero was really afraid of. Personally, I was shocked when I learned that he was afraid of _anything_. But we all have our own demons, I guess.

The first was thunder. Not lightning. He seemed to be cool with a billion volts of electricity arching randomly toward the ground in jagged shards. No, it was the thunder that really creeped him out. I thought it was silly and used to tease him about it, until he explained that the thunder reminded him too much of the sounds of bombs going off and that he tended to have bad flashbacks during thunderstorms. I stopped teasing him after that.

The other thing he was afraid of was the dark. Of course, all of us pilots had something of a phobia about the dark. Being colony brats, there was never a time when it was _ever_ completely dark. Nearly all of us slept with some kind of nightlight or left the bathroom door open.

But Heero... Heero slept with every light in the room on. Oh, he could function in the dark. Sometimes missions required infiltration and night was the best cover. He just didn't _like_ it.

And he'd never explained why. And I didn't want to pry. Some things are... personal.

The first really bad thunderstorm we encountered on earth happened while Heero and I were rooming together in one of the endless string of boarding schools we hid out in during the first war. I woke up with the first loud boom and to the sound of Heero whimpering beneath his covers. I called out to him, and without saying a word, he slipped out of bed... and into mine.

We held each other all night long, with me whispering softly to him until the storm moved on and he fell into an uneasy sleep.

And with every storm thereafter, if we were staying somewhere together, he would climb into bed with me at night -- lights on -- and we would cling to each other until the storm passed. I didn't mind. I liked the comfort, and Heero... well, I liked Heero, too.

One night, while staying at a boarding house for a little downtime while awaiting our next set of order, a severe storm came through -- severe enough to send out weather warnings... and to knock out the power.

When the lights went out, I shot up out of bed. I could hear Heero breathing heavily on the other side of the room. I called out to him as I struggled to untangle myself from the sheets, cursing as I tripped on a pile of books I'd left next to the bed.

"Duo!" I don't think I'd ever heard Heero sound that scared. I stumbled through the dark to his bed and fell on it, onto him. He clutched at me and I did my best to calm him down. He was shaking like a leaf, and I have to admit, seeing Heero that... vulnerable... left me shaking as well.

I don't know who initiated the kiss, but looking back, I don't really care. Perhaps I just wanted to reassure him that I was there, and that he would be fine. Perhaps he just needed closer contact. Whatever the reason, it only took a moment for the kiss to deepen... and only a moment after that for our clothes (not that we were wearing much) to disappear.

Neither of us knew what we were doing, not really, so our movements were clumsy and amateurish at best. I rolled to my back and he slid between my legs. He laid his head on my shoulder as our bodies moved together, more dry humping than anything else, but damn if I didn't feel like my heart would burst as he rubbed his body against mine.

He whispered my name, so softly I almost didn't hear it... and then I was gone. Plunging from a height I didn't know I'd been striving to reach, and taking Heero with me.

We lay there, panting, my heart fluttering like a nervous butterfly in my chest. I reached up and pushed Heero's sweat-dampened hair out of his eyes and asked if he was all right.

"I couldn't hear it," he said, and when the lightning flashed, I caught a glimpse of an expression of amazement on his face.

"Hear what?" I asked.

"The storm. I couldn't hear it over the pounding of my heart."

The thunder crashed again above us. So I pulled him close and held him tight. "The storm's not over. Want to ride it out together?"

He went limp in my arms and nodded, kissing my shoulder.

And for the rest of the night, we created our own tempest.

And most nights thereafter...

--End


End file.
